Most humans see all the colors in the rainbow which are called the "visible spectrum". Do some animals have a wider visible spectrum and thus see additional colors unknown to humans.
2006-11-03 06:18:41 · 7 answers · asked by franko18042 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
Oh, yes. Many insects can perceive ultraviolet light; and birds have 4 photoreceptor cells in their eyes (we only have 3) so they can also see some ultraviolet.
The rumors that animals can only see in black and white is wrong, by the way. Most mammals have only 2 color receptors so they see things less colorfully than we do -- it seems evolution determined that early mammals, being nocturnal animals, did not need all 4 photoreceptors their ancestors did, and lot them. Very recently -- in evolutionary terms, that means just a few tens of million of years -- the monkey/ape reacquired some of the color sensitivity by having one of the color cell type mutate and differentiate, so we now have 3; but in some cases, the DNA is not foolproof, hence we have color blindness.
There was an article about this topic in the July 2006 issue of Scientific American, a bit of this is available on the attached link.
2006-11-03 06:40:40 · answer #1 · answered by Vincent G 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
1. Yes, some animals have a different visible spectrum, and can see a bit into the infrared or into the ultraviolet, particularly some flying insects.
2. Our "cone" method of perceiving color is peculiar to old world primates, so other animals perceive color differently from us. Birds have excellent color vision which is different from ours. I'm sure that if there were intelligent birds, they'd look at our TV sets and laugh their heads off at how funny the coloring is.
2006-11-03 06:58:57 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Some animals can see ultraviolet...goldfish can, I believe. Others have detectors or "pits" that help them detect things on the infrared spectrum...or body heat. Several snakes can do that.
2006-11-03 07:42:05 · answer #3 · answered by Shaun 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
From all I've ever heard, animals don't see color. They see only in black and white. I doubt they can see beyond the visible spectrum (ultraviolet on one end, and infrared on the other).
***EDIT*** Thanks to the others for the enlightening replies....I stand corrected :)
2006-11-03 06:23:44 · answer #4 · answered by LSF 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
yes there are ultraviolet colors that can't be seen by the human eye under natural circumstances.
2006-11-03 06:29:54 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
It could be possible, because every eye is different in humans and animals. everyone sees a color in a certain way so possible animals see a color a different way then we precieve it.
2006-11-03 06:23:27 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
yes ,many animals use color for prey or mating and see color differently than we do
2006-11-03 06:27:20 · answer #7 · answered by michael m 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋